It’s a question of… DIGGING deep into the shifting media landscape

The constantly evolving media landscape, buffeted by changes in technology, tautly stretched budgets and shifting goalposts, requires media planners and strategists to keep abreast of movements in media. But it’s not that easy, what with time constraints, and strained human capacity within media agencies.

Veteran researcher and analyst, Barbara Cooke, and Kim Weissensee, managing director of Applied Media Logic (AML), have designed what they call ‘DIG’ Seminars to help planners and thinkers stay in touch with what’s happening out there.

The sessions, say Cooke and Weissensee, will not only help agency personnel understand the “rapidly changing market but also to put you in touch with what awaits you around the corner; they are also there for you to see into the future”.

“Today there is a plethora of information and many bright planners and thinkers in the media business. Unfortunately our business lives are often so hectic that we don’t get time to pause for thought, or learn from new breakthrough thinking. Often we may not even have the time to catch-up with the speed the media and marketing environment is changing and how new opportunities, often from overseas, with substantial rewards, are arising,” says Weissensee.

Cooke and Weissensee promise the AML DIG Seminars will unearth deeper insights into the world of media, both here and overseas, discovering surprising facts and figures and trends that media agencies and marketing clients should be aware of and act upon. The exclusive DIG Seminars will be held in the auditorium at AML and attendance is by invitation only.

What is the meaning of DIG?

DIG is not an acronym – it simply expresses what our objective for this programme is to dig deeper, to unearth new insights in the media context, to look at international and national trends in media, to uncover lifestyle indicators that will affect how media is consumed and how the consumer is interacting with brands now and how this will change in the future.

What are some of the topics that will be offered at DIG seminars and why are they important? When are these seminars taking place and who should attend?

The topics will depend on what is relevant at any given time e.g. the Census has just been released and DIG has produced a simple easy to read summary of key findings for AML clients. DIG also invites speakers on relevant topics to address invited audiences and to debate the issues raised in these presentations. There is no fixed programme – DIG seminars will take place when there is a topic that we feel needs to be debated, and the audience of invited guests will be chosen because we feel the topic will be a of special interest to them.

Who will be talking to some of the topics?

Again this will depend on the topic, but we will always look for the person who we feel can best present the argument and lead the debate. These will be local and overseas experts and thought leaders.

What are some of the insights you’ll share? What are the trends we should be taking into account? Can you unpack that a bit more?

An example of one of the trends we are watching closely is of course the impact that the social media options are having on the way consumers interact with traditional media, the way they process information and share brand experiences. A recent example of the impact of technology was seen when the radio listening question in AMPS and RAMS omitted to include the possibility of consumers listening to the radio on devices other than a radio set. When the question was changed to include this reality, the level of listenership increased not because the numbers listening to radio had increased, but because the question had been modified to take into account the impact of new media. The platform had changed, not the behaviour.

Another reality is the fact that today’s consumers are in real-time contact with their circles of friends, using the viral or diasporic nature of the internet to share beliefs and opinions outside the control of the brand owner. We are dealing with a ‘three-screen’ generation – mobile phone, computer and TV screens all at the same time.

Our DIG programme is designed to keep a watching brief on anything that impacts the way consumers interact and engage with Media and with our client’s brands, recognising that a medium can be almost anything at all.

The DIG programme also reflects AML’s commitment to their clients that their responsibility is to be aware of, and to interpret, what is happening in the world of media now and into the future, and not only to communicate these trends to their clients, but also to factor them into their media investment recommendations.

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